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Small-Molecule Regulators of Autophagy as Potential Anti-cancer Therapy

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Targeting Autophagy in Cancer Therapy

Part of the book series: Current Cancer Research ((CUCR))

Abstract

Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved lysosomal pathway functioned in the turnover of cellular macromolecules and organelles. It is known that autophagy can have a cytoprotective effect in tumor cells under therapeutic treatment. Autophagy inhibitors thus may be used as auxiliary drugs to augment the anti-tumor activity of cancer therapies. On the other hand, autophagy is a cytotoxic event that can kill tumor cells. Autophagy inducers that increase the level of autophagy thus may be developed as a new class of anti-cancer therapy. This chapter will describe the known pathway of autophagy and its relationship to cancer. The focus of this chapter is to give a summary of the known small-molecule regulators of autophagy, including inhibitors and inducers, discovered as potential therapies for cancer treatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Bioorganic and Natural Products Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai, 200032, P.R. China

    Qing Li, Mi Zhou & Renxiao Wang

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  1. Qing Li
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  2. Mi Zhou
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  3. Renxiao Wang
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Correspondence to Renxiao Wang .

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  1. Department of Pharmacology, The Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA

    Jin-Ming Yang

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Li, Q., Zhou, M., Wang, R. (2016). Small-Molecule Regulators of Autophagy as Potential Anti-cancer Therapy. In: Yang, JM. (eds) Targeting Autophagy in Cancer Therapy. Current Cancer Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42740-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42740-9_3

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